Home Gym Equipment
There are 3 Scenarios Listed Below as the equipment considerations and the order in which to accumulate equipment will differ based on your circumstance. There’s a contact section at the bottom of the page if you have any equipment questions for me! The three scenarios on this page are:
“I just want to be able to do as many workouts as possible, but don’t have a huge area to dedicate to a home gym.”
“I have a gym membership, so just want to have some equipment at home to workout every now and then.”
“I am going all-in on my home gym and have a dedicated space for my toys.”
When getting equipment for home, there are a few things you need to consider to prioritize how you fill-out your space:
What is your budget?
If you have a big budget, then you can just focus on the other questions below, but, if you are going to build your home gym over time, then you’ll want to prioritize with the most useful stuff. There are a ton of common mistakes people make right out the gate that I’ll help you avoid!
How much space do you have?
Certain equipment is amazing, but takes up a ton of space: rowers, exercise bikes, treadmills, power racks, GHD machines, reverse hypers, etc. You need to consider where you are going to workout and where you are going to store everything. You can get great workouts from just a little bit of equipment you can throw in the corner of your living room and you can beef up your garage into a gym that will make everyone jealous. Either way, you need to keep in context what you’re up to to figure out where to start.
Are you supplementing a gym membership or replacing a gym membership?
My recommendations with be dramatically different if the equipment you are getting is to do the majority of your workouts at home. For me, since I own a gym, my equipment at home is to supplement what I do in the gym which has very different considerations.
So, below are different scenarios…simply look for a scenario that fits what you are up to best for my advice. The All-in with a lot of space recommendation is the very last on this page. Going all in with your home gym can be a ton of fun, but there are some very common traps people fall into that I’ll help you avoid!
Scenario #1 - “I just want to be able to do as many workouts as possible, but don’t have a huge area to dedicate to a home gym.”
In this scenario, you want to focus on the biggest bang for your buck and things that take up the least amount of room. If you have a pair of dumbbells and a pull-up bar, it’s not perfect, but you’ll be able to do a variation of almost everything posted on this site and in most workout programs. So, start here:
Buy this Equipment First:
Buy this Equipment Second:
This stuff is INCREDILBE to have, but get the other stuff first:
Scenario #2 - “I have a gym membership, so just want to have equipment at home to workout every now and then.”
If you have a gym membership, then, for this scenario, I am assuming you are taking classes and have consistent access to the pieces of equipment that classes typically use. As a gym owner, when we are purchasing equipment for the gym, we have to prioritize equipment that can be used for classes of 20+ people over and over again each day, so we have to prioritize some things that we wouldn’t if we were outfitting something for an individual. There are certain pieces of equipment that we LOVE, but it just doesn’t make sense for a group class business model. First, we need enough of the equipment to be used in a class and stored. For example, a GHD machine is awesome, but it takes up a ton of space and we would realistically need 7-10 of them to be able to effectively use them in classes. We would maybe use them once every week and a half, so the GHD’s would take up a ton of room and would not get very much use relative to other pieces of equipment. This is the reason a GHD machine is very low on the list for gyms and what you should get even if you are going all-in on your home gym. Next, for a gym scenario the equipment needs to be able to be used all day long, so something like a sandbag that gets wet with sweat and is hard to clean is a really gross piece of equipment for classes. We love sleds, but unless you have the space to store and to use sleds in a large class, they may not make very much sense as a priority for a group class setting.
So, because in this scenario you are likely already taking classes that use barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls, pull-up bars, squat racks, benches, boxes, AbMats, etc., I personally like having the things at home to play with that: 1) we don’t get to use in classes and 2) can be used to modify workouts with. Here is a list prioritized in how much I use and enjoy each piece of equipment at home and of course if you don’t have mobility tools, that should be the first thing you get:
Scenario #3 - “I am going all-in on my home gym and have a large-ish, dedicated space for my toys.”
Start with prioritizing the home gym basics:
2 x 10lb Pairs
1 x 25lb Pair
1-3 x 45lb Pairs (Depending on your fitness level)
Second add the pieces of equipment that will get the most use and take up the least amount of space for the least amount of money. For example, I LOVE the Assault Air Bike and the Concept2 Rower, but if you’re on a budget, you can go a ton of other tools for the same price. If you’ve got the cash, add those suckers in here, if not, add those pieces later on.
Second, Add in some Cheaper Essentials
Third go for the classic stuff, that is incredibly useful, but will not get used as often as the above pieces of equipment.
Third - Incredibly Useful, but Used Less often or More Expensive
Last, I’m not going to include every single piece of equipment possible, but the really cool toys that I have had a ton of fun playing around with that will get more use than once a year!
